January’s results are built in November and December. Every dealership believes that, but most don’t act like it. Here’s what your team should be thinking about right now:
1. Open ROs = Open Risk
Open ROs are like interest-free loans you keep giving your own dealership.But they also hide missed upsells, warranty time bombs, and aging labor that will evaporate on January 1.
Think about:
How many open ROs are older than 7 days?
Who is managing them? And is that a job or just a hope?
Which ones should have follow-up calls today?
2. Warranty Cleanup Before Warranty Cleans You Up
January is when OEM auditors wake up.You know the policies. They know the policies. But your tech stories probably don’t.
Questions to ask this week:
Are we documenting symptoms or rewriting after the fact?
Are one-time-use parts being captured?
Would your stories survive a January audit if you couldn’t “fix it later”?
Not fixing it later. There is no later.
3. Multipoint Goldmines (If You Actually Mine Them)
Most service drives treat MPIs like checklists not money maps.Year-end is when customers are unusually open to “protect it before winter” decisions.
Evaluate:
Are techs flagging age-based recommendations, or just measuring tread depth?
Are advisors using this data to educate, or just reading the screen?
Does inspection data ever show up in your January retention strategy?
Tuesday Night: We’ll unpack how to turn MPIs into real Year-End Vehicle Health Reviews.
4. Retention Is a Q1 Problem (But You Fix It in Q4)
Everyone promises to “do better in retention next year.”Smart stores build that list now.
Do you know:
Which customers are due for their next visit between Jan 1–March 31?
Which ones spent over $600 this year? (They’re your most valuable)
Which haven’t been back in 9 months? (They’re leaving you)
Reminder: You can’t nurture a relationship you don’t track.
5. Leadership Reset Before Budget Reset
Here’s a fun truth: service departments don’t “start fresh” in January. They just keep repeating December habits.
Year-end leadership questions:
What meetings are valuable? Which are just noise?
What will you stop tracking?
What will you track daily?
Is your team set up for accountability or excuses?
Tuesday Night Live: The Year-End Fixed Ops Audit Session
No slide deck. No consultant talk. Just real people who have lived service drives in December.
We’ll cover:
The “7-Day RO Accountability Sweep”
Warranty story triage (before auditors do it for you)
The January retention readiness report
Turning tech data into real advisory conversations
Setting leadership tone before the budget sets it for you
Bring your service manager, advisors, trainer, warranty admin, and your appetite for uncomfortable truths.
Link to join live:
Tuesday, 8 PM ET